723 days to go…

A plan is forming. I think it’s a reasonable plan. I think I can manage it with work and other commitments (Oh, Beer University, how I love you), and it should keep me moving through a long, cold Minnesota winter.

I had another swim lesson last night. I have a long way to go to get to 1/4 mile of swimming in a sprint triathlon, but it’s great exercise and fibro-friendly. I got to try out the vortex pool at Southdale, which is going to get a bit of use from me this winter as I use it for running if my hips are bothering me and for swimming against the current to start to get used to what open water might feel like. My swim instructor is also a certified massage therapist, and she’s said she’d be more than happy to do sessions once every week or two if it’d help. I think I’m going to work those sessions in regularly.

I got up this morning at 5 am. It’s tough to crawl out of a nice warm bed with a puppy curled up next to you and wander through a chilly house gathering workout gear. But with the image of the finish line of the Twin Cities Marathon in my mind, I got out of bed and got dressed.

I went downstairs and got on the treadmill. I downloaded Jeff Galloway’s 5k app about a week ago, thinking a return to the basics was in order. I told the app that I wanted to run at least a 12 min/mi average, and that I was looking to improve my 5k time. The app has a feature where you can load up to 50 songs into the app at any one time, and the app will change the speed of the song to match the pace you are running or walking. I decided to try a 2 min run/1 min walk interval, to start. You can change the ratio on the fly, which is nice. If having a great day, you can just run. If struggling, you can do a 30 sec run/30 sec walk ratio.

The app worked well. Today’s workout was warmup walk for 3 minutes (forgot to start my Garmin), run/walk for 20 minutes, 3 min cooldown walk. I did 2 minutes of running at around 10:15/mi pace, and racewalked the 1 minute walk segments at about a 14:00/mi pace.

Time: 26:18

Distance: 2.32mi

Pace: 11:20/mi pace

I felt pretty good this morning. Going back to the basics and working on a faster 5k feels like the right thing to do, and having a big goal in mind is going to keep me consistently working out, which is something I struggle with. If I can just get out of bed and get the workout clothes on, I always feel better when I’ve completed a workout! This morning’s workout should have been done on Tuesday, so I’ll be doing that starting next week.

Here’s the current idea for the schedule:

Monday: rest day

Tuesday: run am (at Y), swim pm (at Y)

Wednesday: bike am or other x-training (at home)

Thursday: run am (at Y)

Friday: swim am (at Y)

Saturday: long run (at home) – can be done on Sunday if needed

Sunday: Bike or long recovery walk with Jetta (at home)

Here’s a very bad cell phone photo of me after my workout. I’m hoping that over time, I can see physical improvement in these photographs… I used to do this all the time when I was first starting to run, and it is nice to see the improvement over time.

One Response to 723 days to go…

Hey Kelly, I think you can do this! … as you stated in the last post – you are already a marathoner (a title you deserve) … but PRs are meant to be broken. There’s nothing wrong with wanting more and you can! you can! you can! Can’t wait to hear more about your progress.